FPCA’s Anthony Campbell outleaps his defender for a dunk in the Highlanders’ 72-52 win against Fort Stewart’s Youth ChalleNGe Academy on Thursday night.

First Presbyterian Christian Academy senior point guard T’era Alston had 10 assists and scored 11 points as the FPCA girls’ basketball team throttled Fort Stewart Youth ChalleNGe Academy, 51-15, on Thursday night at the St. James Sports Center. FPCA controlled the game from the start. Aliyah Wilson scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the first quarter. The Lady Highlanders led, 29-4, at the half and never looked back. YCA had little offense except for three treys in the last minutes of the fourth quarter. “Tonight, the main thing that we did really well is that the girls played well together,” FPCA coach Rosby Frasier said. “We played strong defense, and T’era did a good job distributing the basketball. This game was a good learning experience for us” FPCA picks up its second win of the season after losing a one-point heartbreaker to Memorial Day School last weekend. The Lady Highlanders are finished with games until after Christmas break. “We don’t play again until after the first of the year, so we hope to get a lot of good practices in over the break,” Frasier said. “We need to work on everything, especially increase our conditioning level and work on the post game for the second half of the season.” FPCA 21 8 13 9 — 51 YCA 0 4 2 9 — 15 FPCA — Aliyah Wilson 18, T’era Alston 11, Summer Melhalko 9, Brooke Standard 5, Amber Cromeenes 4, Jordan Johnson 2, Nia Alleyene 2. FPCA boys win, 72-52 Halftime is one of the most important times during the flow of the basketball game. Players get a chance to rest and reflect, and coaches can change strategy. The FPCA boys’ basketball team led YCA, 29-27, at the half, but coach David Linderman’s halftime adjustments allowed the Highlanders to blow open the game for a 72-52 win. The game opened with both teams playing basket for basket. The Highlanders allowed YCA to stay in the game with errant passes and a lack of rebounding. “(In the) first half, we just didn’t work as hard as we should have,” David Linderman said. “We just had to stay the course. We play really good defense in practice — sometimes almost flawless. But we have got to show the same type of defense we do in practice in a game. I thought if we went to an aggressive man and played like we are capable of playing, it would help us a lot.” Coming out of the locker room for the second half, FPCA went into a hardcore, fast-paced man-to-man defense that netted four turnovers and a four-point scoring run in the first 30 seconds of the third quarter. FPCA didn’t just use strong defense; the Highlanders also connected on three treys to go up, 55-42. FPCA also showed more discipline by moving the basketball and getting the inside game more involved. The Highlanders controlled the tempo for the rest of the game. “I am proud of how both teams played,” YCA head coach Ernie Walthour Jr. said. Walthour also is the head coach at FPCA, but his assistant coach, Linderman, acts as the Highlanders’ head coach when the two teams play. “David did an amazing job of making the right adjustments at the half against YCA. FPCA is starting to play together more as a team,” Walthour continued. FPCA’s second win gives the Highlanders a 2-2 record so far this season. FPCA will host region nemesis Bethesda on Tuesday at the St. James Sports Center. “The last couple of years, it has come down to us and Bethesda in the state tournament,” Walthour said. “They have a lot of seniors, and we realize that we are a young team. We know coming into a game like this we can be competitive, but we have to play close to an error-free game to win.” Game stats were not available by press time.